168 chapter five
in the books of jurisprudence. The Shafi"ì were mainly in Lower
Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, although they were subsequently
to become influential in South East Asia.
The ŒanbalìSchool. The founder of the School was Ahmad
ibn-Œanbal (784–855) who strictly adhered to Sunnah to the letter
narrowing the margin of the consensus of opinion and analogical
approach and rejecting any form of human reasoning. Although he
was a student of the moderate al-Shafi"ìhe adopted an uncompro-
mising approach to Islamic jurisprudence. His approach, it seems,
was a reaction to the Mu"tazilah movement, which resorted to rea-
soning in developing the science of theology during the Abbasids
period and were in favour with Caliph al-Ma"mùn (813–833). In
vain were the efforts of the Abbasìd caliph al-Ma"mùn, which reached
imprisonment, to force him to change his mind. His book “al-Musnad”
which contains forty thousand hadìth of the Sunnah is a major work
in the subject. His followers are mainly in Saudi Arabia (ibid.).
The development of the Islamic legal thought was by no means
the only aspect of intellectual development in Islam under the
Umayyad and the Abbasìd reign. Islamic histories tells us about the
development of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, astrology, alchemy,
geography, fine and industrial arts, architecture, philosophy, Arabic
grammar, history writing, poetry, music, belles-letters and calligra-
phy, (see for example, Hitti, 1963). In law, theology, philology and
linguistics, Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs, also carried on original
thinking and research (ibid.). Learning is almost regarded as sacred
and Muslims are ordained by the Qur"àn and the Sunnah to learn
and seek knowledge, “even as far away as in China”, as the Prophet
instructs his followers (flaœìœ Muslim). Jihàd is a term that is not
confined to Holy War; it also incorporates the hardship borne in
seeking knowledge, where Muslims are ordained with regard to learn-
ing, “the best of you are those who learn and teach what they learn”,
(flaœìœMuslim). Knowledge as such, or science, is divided into two
types: religious science, Ulùm al-Dìn, and secular science, Ulùm al-
Doniaand both are equally important. Islamic economic science is
par excellence a mixture of the two types of science, religious and
secular, and the contribution to it is a contribution to both.
Now we turn our attention to the early work on Islamic eco-
nomics: treatise on Kharàj.